Materiality Analysis

Carefully examining a myriad of internal and external issues that help shape our CSR and sustainability programs

Defining materiality is an important component of an effective CSR and sustainability program. We believe that this process of examining the internal and external drivers of our purpose and mission is crucial. This also helps us determine which areas align with marketplace and stakeholder priorities. There are many areas in which Campbell’s long-term business success aligns with marketplace and stakeholder priorities, including:

Sustainable agriculture: Our suppliers depend on us to educate them, engage with them on new technology, resource and energy conservation, etc., and to include them in our business' long-term strategy. In fact, we believe that we owe them those things.
Responsible sourcing: Choosing our suppliers – who have an undeniable role in furthering our mission of nourishing our consumers' lives – is critical for our mission to be a success.
Promotion of human health and sound, yet affordable, nutrition: Millions remain without access to nutritious food choices, while obesity continues to increase. We seek to change that by promoting sound healthy and affordable choices.

We believe that carefully considering these areas of alignment can lead to a more informed CSR strategy and help drive both positive social impact and long-term business success.

While most materiality issues remain relatively stable year to year, we view the monitoring and assessment process as a key organizational learning function. In addition to our ongoing issues monitoring and assessment processes, we conduct several rigorous efforts to inform and refine our CSR materiality assessment. This year’s process included:

Formal meetings: We held formal meetings with social and advocacy investment stakeholders and researchers to better understand and engage on issues of priority to them.

Community polls: We polled our community and external partners involved in our childhood hunger and obesity initiative, learning that issues involving our youth remain at the top of the priority list of our community stakeholders, and that, while all issues were ranked high, an immediate concern such as hunger ranked higher than education or the environment in our communities.

Consumer surveys: We fielded another survey of Campbell consumers, asking them to rank issues by materiality and provide open-ended comments on our business and CSR strategy. Here, too, responses were stable.

In-depth research: Dr. Daniel Sonke, Manager of Agriculture Sustainability Programs, conducted a series of approximately 50 interviews to examine priority focus areas for our suppliers. Interviewees included farmers, agriculture suppliers, retail and food service customers, NGOs and global Campbell employees.